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Topic: Baltimore, MD Beer-cation (Read 1276 times)

Hey fellow HBers. Myself and four friends have formed a bit of a beer pact. Each year we have a man-cation that is centered around beer. The first two years we went to Belgium Comes to Cooperstown at Ommegang. Last year we went to Pittsburgh, PA. This year we're hitting up Baltimore, MD. We'll be there from Thurs-Sunday. I've been searching the net trying to find places to go, things to try, and special little nuggets of Baltimore beer goodness. It just occurred to me that I have a great resource here. So, if anyone has any tips, places, breweries, bars, restaurants, or whatever is a good beer-venture; I'd greatly appreciate any info I can get.

First off, you have to go to Max's. They have about 100 different taps (more if you count the duplicates upstairs and in the side bar) and the selection is always amazing. The only thing is that the crowd on a Friday or Saturday night makes it a little bit less fun. I'd go on Thursday, or Saturday during the day (or both). Actually, I just got their weekly email saying that on Thursday they're putting 14 different Mikkeller's on tap. Need I say more?

The Pratt Street Ale House is a good brewpub if you like English Ales. They've renovated recently and Steve the brewmaster makes some great stuff. I'd also check out the Brewer's Art, which is a Belgian style brewpub and a fantastic restaurant. They have a pretty sweet bar in the basement that also gets crowded on the weekends, though.

Heavy Seas is a full-scale microbrewery just outside of the city. They do Saturday tours that you still might be able to get in on if you're interested.

Another local bar with a good selection is Mahaffeys (mahaffeyspub.com) . They have about 20 taps and a beer engine, but the prices are hard to beat and the people are always great. During happy hour (until 7pm), you can mix and match 3 10-ouncers of all but the highest alcohol drafts for $5.

There are other brewpubs in the suburbs as well. DuClaw, Red Brick Station, and Pub Dog are all hit or miss in my opinion. Flying Dog brewery is up in Frederick but that's a bit of a drive and I don't think they're giving tours right now. Victoria Gastropub in Columbia is a very nice restaurant with a good beer selection, but you'll probably pay closer to DC prices.

As for food... if you want Seafood, I'd avoid Phillips at the Inner Harbor. There are a lot of good places in Fells Point and in Canton that have seafood and aren't nearly as much of a tourist trap. Mt. Vernon (up Charles st.) has a lot of really nice restaurants as well.

Anyway, enjoy your trip! If the Orioles were in town this weekend you could walk up and get great seats for $10 and watch the visiting team win.

Wow, thanks for the info. I had a couple of those things on my list but had no idea about the whole thing at Max's. We'll be rolling into Baltimore on Thursday night after hanging out in Annapolis for awhile. So we'll check into our hotel and head right there. Nice to know that Baltimore has a thriving beer scene. Coming from Philly I'm used to a big beer scene. I should've mentioned that we won't be heading down until the end of July (last weekend actually). But added all that info to my itinerary.In the words of the most interesting man in the world..."Stay thirsty my friends!"

I second Max's. If you don't make it to the Brewer's Art, Max's has their beers on tap--do sample some of BA beer. The Brewer's Art does have very good food though. If you are near the Inner Harbor, you might also go a little further South to the Metropolitan: http://www.metrobalto.com/ Give a call first to see what they have on tap--they sometimes have interesting stuff w/ diff selections at up & downstairs bars--I suggest this also because you can walk back to your hotel IF staying in the Inner Harbor area. Clipper City is at the very SW edge of Baltimore and if you can fit a tour in, I would. Link to virtual tour: http://www.hsbeer.com/virtual-tour-brewery Cheers

Forgot to add: I would not recommend Red Brick Station. No offense to the previous poster but I have had their beer 2x in the last year and the last time I had their stout and it was not drinkable. I left 2/3 of a pint on the table. And their food was horrible. Really.

Forgot to add: I would not recommend Red Brick Station. No offense to the previous poster but I have had their beer 2x in the last year and the last time I had their stout and it was not drinkable. I left 2/3 of a pint on the table. And their food was horrible. Really.

Yes, I think we're in agreement... "hit or miss" generally isn't a compliment.